President rebuffs threats over galamsey

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The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has noted that threats of electoral defeat in 2020 cannot restrain his government from continuing the fight against small-scale illegal mining, known in local parlance as galamsey.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has noted that threats of electoral defeat in 2020 cannot restrain his government from continuing the fight against small-scale illegal mining, known in local parlance as galamsey.

He added that his determination to permanently bring the life-threatening menace to a permanent end is unquestionable, thus he would carry through his government’s plan to save the country’s environment and water bodies from destruction by the galamseyers.

Speaking at the commissioning of an ICT Center at Suabe in the Eastern Regional town of Akyem Wenchi, yesterday, President Akufo-Addo stressed that he would not allow some citizens to endanger the lives of the entire population with their illegal activities.

“Mining along the water bodies cannot continue if we want to preserve nature and our water. It cannot continue,” he warned.

The comments by the President come in the wake of recent threats by galamseyers in Akwatia to vote against him if the government did not stop the fight against galamsey because it would make them poor.

However, the President reiterated that his government is not against mining but those who are doing it unlawfully. “Illegal mining is what I am against,” he said, adding that he would not shy away from implementing policies that would result in the progress of the country.

He reminded Ghanaians: “if we cannot develop the lands left for us by our ancestors, we should not destroy them.”

Meanwhile, the Small Scale Miners Association in Kumasi has also served notice that it plans to petition Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to intervene in the government’s resolve to stop galamsey.

The Association is of the opinion that the government is unduly blowing out of proportion, the effects of the activities of its members. It, however, made an appeal to the government to help its members find an environmentally friendly means to do their job.